One of the limits with note slides is the distance parameter being limited to 4 bits. Sure, 15 steps in either direction is usually enough, but sometimes I actually hit those rare outlier cases where it's not.

So: If you specify more than one Q (or R) effect in the same row, let their slide distances be summed together.

Currently you can stack multiple Q or R effects already -- but only if you place them on separate rows. (Doesn't matter whether the first slide is complete before you issue the second one or not.)

Because the use of 3xx leads to such awkward constructions as the ones shown in the attached FTM to almost replicate the same output that could have been achieved by allowing multiple Qxy/Rxy effects on the same row instead of processing only the last such command, possibly by calling CChannelHandler::SetupSlide for each occurrence of the portamento effect in the note data, and in the NSF driver calling a portion of ft_load_slide as soon as any of the portamento command is encountered. (However, the portamento speed does not need to stack just as it currently doesn't if portamento effects are issued on different rows.)

Note: In FamiTracker any custom engine speed forces the two 2A03 pulse channels to reset the phase simultaneously; hence, if pulse 1 and pulse 2 produce the exactly same output, except that one channel uses 25% duty and the other 75%, destructive interference will render the two channels silent if mixed together. The attached FTM demonstrates this for the most part.

Threxx wrote:Then use a blank instrument, and turn off the effect after.

Why would that be so difficult for you now?

Not difficult, just annoying. I have a tendency to make edits while playing the song or otherwise jump the playback from one segment to a different one, so it's actually very desirable not activating a persistent effect if I don't strictly need to.

Besides, you can't exactly do a portamento at the start of a note like you can with Q and R. Yes they perform basically the same underlying thing but the differences in their respective executions are important and useful. (On an aside, one tiny gripe I have about Q/R/pitchbends is they occur at the start of the engine cycle when I would sometimes like them to wait an engine cycle before kicking in. There is no simple way of working around this at all.)

Threxx wrote:Then use a blank instrument, and turn off the effect after.

Why would that be so difficult for you now?

Not difficult, just annoying. I have a tendency to make edits while playing the song or otherwise jump the playback from one segment to a different one, so it's actually very desirable not activating a persistent effect if I don't strictly need to.

Besides, you can't exactly do a portamento at the start of a note like you can with Q and R. Yes they perform basically the same underlying thing but the differences in their respective executions are important and useful. (On an aside, one tiny gripe I have about Q/R/pitchbends is they occur at the start of the engine cycle when I would sometimes like them to wait an engine cycle before kicking in. There is no simple way of working around this at all.)

It seems all you have is gripes...

I've attached an FTM with three examples of any possible situations that could occur based on your request. All doable with the tools we currently have. It's called monitoring your effects to make sure everything is cancelled when it needs to be. The tracker does not need to account for your laziness.

That FTM contributes nothing to this request at all provided the desired note offset in the portamento effects does not exceed 15 semitones as stated in the original post. (Also Qxy and Rxy effects automatically cancel 3xx but that is not the most important issue in that FTM.)